Shade
by eachpeach
Summary: Hei Bai resurrects Jet for one purpose... Vengeance against the Fire Nation! But Jet doesn't learn the full implications of the deal until it's too late.   CHAPTER TWO UP NOW!  Warning: slight gore, stylised violence, vampires that don't sparkle
1. Death and an Offer

Jet didn't feel very dead. But then, nor did he feel very alive. In fact he couldn't feel anything at all. He stood in water up to his knees yet he wasn't wet. A strange pale light fell upon him but he felt no warmth. The place was a swamp; the water was clear as light and revealed amber coloured leaves that swirled upon the sediment. Slim fishes in silvery shoals, undeterred by his presence, swam swiftly around him, disappearing into the dark reeds that grew in sinuous clusters. From out of the mire, massive trees reared into the ochrescent sky, from their branches, swung hoary swathes of bearded moss and their leaves trembled as though shaken by the wind yet Jet could feel no breeze nor hear its sigh nor could he hear the creaking of the trees as they swayed gently. No birds sang and there were no croaking frogs or chirring insects; there was only silence.

If he climbed one of those trees, he would have a better view of where he was. He made his way through the water but it didn't pull at his feet the way an ordinary swamp would, instead it was as though he were walking through nothing yet he sent fine arcs of water zinging little droplets with his every step.

Jet pulled himself easily onto one of the slopes of craggy roots. He had been injured, mortally so, yet there was no pain and his body moved with a strength he had never felt in life. Though he did not have his hooked swords to help him climb, he swiftly ascended to the uppermost branches, which were so wide that if he lay down he would still have room on either side of him to roll over. But the width of the branch was not what Jet was thinking of as he looked out over this place that he had come to.

It was endless, there was only the swamp spreading out as far as he could see. Here and there the trees grew closer together but for whole tracts there was nothing but water and reeds glimmering in a haze that glowed with the unearthly colour of the yellow, harvest moon that was rising up over the horizon.

He knew that he must be dead. He could remember dying in the dim caverns beneath Lake Laogai. Longshot and Smellerbee had been with him until the end, their faces fading with the pain as the darkness took him in. Then there was nothing for a time until a tiny pinprick of light appeared before him and the brightness grew larger and Jet wondered whether he was moving toward it or if it was reaching down for him. All Jet knew was that as the light grew close, so too did a profound sense of calm and a feeling of rightness hovered just beyond his finger-tips. Jet reached out for the light, wanting to flee from the dark into the shining whiteness but just as his hands almost closed around the edge of the light he felt something pulling at him. Pulling him away from the brightness that began to shrink away, growing smaller and smaller until it had almost disappeared. And then the light winked out and Jet was in the dark nothingness once more until he realised that his eyes were shut so he opened them and found himself in this place.

This wasn't how he had pictured heaven, and it certainly was not what he thought hell was going to be like. Jet walked out across the branch which swayed gently in time with the other trees in the ghost wind that Jet couldn't feel or hear till he reached the very tip.

Jet looked down at the swamp below. He was overcome by a sense of detachment and as he stared down from the great height he had an urge to jump. So he did. He stepped from the branch into the nothingness expecting a rapid plummet and perhaps a real death at the end of it but his fall was slow and he landed gently in the water which made no sound as it splashed around him languidly.

Jet found his lips breaking into a terrible grin and a laugh that sounded strange even to him came from his throat and echoed weirdly across the silence of the place. He wandered onwards through the swamp; clambering over the serpentine roots and fallen trees, sometimes leaping from branch to branch but the only other life he could see was the little wriggling fish that occasionally swam by him and they did not seem to notice his presence at all.

The moon had risen but always seemed to be in a different part of the sky whenever Jet looked up for it and quite quickly he was no longer sure which direction he had been heading if indeed he had been walking in a straight line at all.

Then, at last he heard a noise, a gentle humming that cut through the silence. Jet headed toward the source and the sound grew louder.

It was a monkey-like creature that could only be a spirit sitting in meditation letting out long, soothing ohms. Was Jet in the spirit world?

The monkey opened an eye as Jet approached.

"Go away." He said hastily before returning to his chant.

But Jet would not be deterred, especially now that he had found someone in this place who might answer his questions.

"Not until you tell me where I am and why I am here." Despite his urgency, Jet was careful to sound respectful.

The monkey opened an eye again in irritation, "I did not bring you here! Go away and annoy the one who did."

Jet grimaced in frustration and took a step toward him.

"Why can't you just tell me who it was that brought me here and where I can find them? Then I can leave you in peace."

But the monkey was resolutely ignoring him now, his hums ostentatiously loud, to drown out Jet's voice.

Spirit or not, no one was going to ignore Jet, and the freedom fighter growled as he lunged toward the monkey, though what he was actually going to do against the spirit he didn't know and never got a chance to find out as the spirit suddenly leapt up and screeched, "Heibei! He is your responsibility! Take him away!"

And just as suddenly, Jet found him self being scooped up by an unearthly hand attached to an even unearthlier creature. It was black and white and had four arms and a monstrous head that opened and roared white light not at him but at the monkey spirit that danced madly out of the way, shaking his fists in annoyance. But then the great creature was bounding through the swamp so fast that Jet's surroundings blurred.

He was thrown down and landed not in the swamp but on earth. It was a forest floor, damp with leathery brown leaves matted together, curious little heads of grey mushrooms poked up out of the ground. Flat, orange fungi ringed fallen branches. Jet looked around; he was now in a forest, the light of the moon sunk shafts through openings in the canopy way up high. A thousand golden fireflies muzzed about in dizzying circles around his head as he sat up. The grotesque spirit had changed into a less-fearsome but still awe-inspiring creature that looked down upon Jet intently.

"You have already guessed that you are in the spirit world, but you want to know how and you want to know why." The deep, earthy voice of the spirit reverberated through Jet so that it felt like he was trembling with the sound. Jet could only nod as the spirit continued, "I plucked your spirit from its journey onwards to that which comes after. I have brought you here because I wish to make you an offer."

"An offer?" Jet asked wonderingly.

"You are dead," said Heibei in a way that made Jet flinch, "even now your friends are burying your body, but if you let me, I can send you back."

Jet was wary yet he couldn't suppress the tiny flames of excitement and curiosity that had kindled within him. "Send me back? Why would you do such a thing? Surely it is against the natural order. I thought that the spirits were all about maintaining the balance of life and death."

The spirit let out a rumbling chuckle that sounded like rocks tumbling down a mountain side. "Ah, but it is exactly about maintaining the balance between life and death as you so put it that I make this offer to you."

Jet stared back at the spirit, nonplussed.

"We are similar, you and I; we share a love of the forest. I have known you for most of your life. You were just a boy when you took refuge amongst my trees; you had lost your family and your home."

Old feelings, feelings he had thought he had suppressed were stirring in Jet; the old hate, the old anger.

Heibei continued. "And then we come to the second thing that we share; the thirst for revenge. We have been wronged, you and I. Wronged by the same enemy."

"The Fire Nation." Snarled Jet, his voice low.

"Yes." Heibei hissed. "The Fire Nation burned down your village and took away those you loved. The Fire Nation is burning down my forests. Everyday they burn more." Heibei's shape was changing as his anger increased; he was reforming into the monster that had snatched Jet away from the monkey spirit.

"But I will stop them! And I will have my revenge! And it is through you Jet that I will do this. I need you Jet. I know you thirst for revenge just as I do. You bent your entire life towards it. You tried to change; to start over, you left my forests and went to the city but you found no peace there Jet. You found no peace because the deaths of your family had not been avenged! Let me send you back Jet! With my help you can avenge us both!"

A strange thrill, a crackling blackness was flowing fast, coursing through his veins, filling him, taking over Jet's mind. "What must I do?" He asked, breathily.

Heibei leaned down close to Jet; he was truly terrifying and absolutely magnificent as he said finally, "All you must do is say yes."

Jet had never been more sure of anything in his entire life. "Send me back. I say yes. I will do this."

Hei Bai's lips peeled back into a terrifying grin as he whispered, "Good."

And then Jet was engulfed in white light.


	2. A Shallow Grave

Chapter Two: A Shallow Grave

Darkness pressed at him from all sides and then there was pain, deep pain as he felt his heart beat again, thudding to life, pain that surged through him as his thick, cold blood coursed once more through his veins. His lungs ached for air, forcing him to breathe but earth filled his mouth and his nose, choking him. Panic took over, he was buried! His heavy limbs stung with pins and needles as the blood rushed through them but he forced them to move against the soil with a strength that only terror can provide. He thrust up his arms, and felt them break through the surface. He clawed at the earth until his head was free, and he drew great gasps of breath. At last, he pulled himself up and out and laid back beside his grave panting.

It was night. Through the silver branches of the trees he watched an infinity of stars turn above him as he rested. A great stillness possessed him as it slowly began to sink in. He was back. Just as Hei Bei said he would, he had been brought back. The cool wind shook the long grasses that grew around him and scattered feathery seed-heads that trickled off into the inky dark. All things seemed brighter and sharper. He had never known the starlight to fall so thickly nor had he ever noticed the textures of the shadows in between the blades of grass, in the roughness of the bark, in the folds of his clothing. Jet found himself plucking idly at his shirt, marvelling at the way the shadows changed with the movement of the cloth.

Jet suddenly wondered how long he had laid been lying there, time, it seemed, was moving strangely for him. Jet attempted to get up but his body was still stiff and cumbersome, his efforts only resulted in shaking more loose earth from his clothes as he tried to move. At last, he stood, though he had to clutch at the trunk of a tree while he steadied himself. Jet looked down at the mess of his grave and then toward the lake that spread out gleaming in the pearly light toward the dark horizon.

Longshot and Smellerbee, where were they now? What were they doing? His most faithful freedom fighters had buried him in this place, in this small copse of trees on a hill that looked over Lake Laogai. He didn't know how they had managed to get him out of those underwater caverns but somehow they had evaded the Dai Li long enough to bury him in this makeshift grave. They had buried him under trees. They knew how he had hated the city. This was just the kind of place he would want to be buried. Jet smiled grimly at his macabre thoughts even while his heart swelled with emotion when he saw their memorial, the marker of his grave; his hook swords buried in the branches above where they had interred him.

Jet reached out toward the branch painfully, his hands closing around the familiar handles of his blades. He pulled the weapons free from the wood that they were half buried in and their weight in his hands made him feel complete once more. They were as much a part of him as any of his limbs were and beneath the stars, they gleamed, reminding him of old times. Old times; should he seek his freedom fighters out again? He ached to see them again; they were the closest thing he had to a family. But would it be fair on them? They had come to Ba Sing Se to start new lives but Jet had only held them back, unable to let go of the past. If he reappeared in their lives again they would feel obliged to follow him on whatever mad quest it was that he had agreed to. Once again he would be leading them away from the lives they truly wanted to lead; the lives that they had a chance of finding, now that he was dead to them. He would remain dead to them. He had only been brought back to this world for one purpose anyway.


End file.
